This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…
Gary Neville has admitted that he thinks Liverpool are now favourites for the title after going eight points clear of Manchester City at the weekend.
What did he say?
The Reds are in formidable form in the Premier League this season and James Milner’s last-minute penalty against Leicester means they are yet to drop a point from their opening eight games.
Man City, by contrast, have not looked their usual consistent best following an injury to Aymeric Laporte, and have now dropped points in three matches, leaving them with a lot of catching up to do already.
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Because of those reasons, Neville believes Jurgen Klopp’s team is now in pole position. However, with so long to go in the season he wouldn’t be surprised to see a few twists and turns, and made it clear that the Premier League trophy is far from being in Anfield just yet.
Speaking to Sky Sports, Neville said:
“Liverpool are definitely big favourites, but if Van Dijk gets injured, or Salah gets injured it can change. There’s thirty games to go.
“As much as United are in a difficult moment, it’s one of their toughest games, then Liverpool face City in a few weeks as well. Liverpool have games coming up that they could drop points in – they might not.
“City are not right, they’ve set such a high standard and the back four is not right. They’re conceding chances and they just didn’t concede chances last year. They’re not like they were.
“They set such a high standard and Liverpool matched that standard last year, barring a hair’s width, if City drop below that. Not replacing Kompany and the injury to Laporte is a big problem for them. They look vulnerable. They haven’t shown vulnerability for a few years and people will believe they are.”
– Gary Neville on the title race
Worst nightmare
For Neville, the prospect of Liverpool winning the Premier League after going 30 years without a title is a realisation that he likely wished he would never have to make.
At the end of last season he spoke of his ideal scenario which would prevent the Reds finishing top and therefore his feelings, as a former Man United player, are firmly against the best interest of Liverpool.
Perhaps it is even worse for Neville considering he was part of the Red Devils side which, as stated by Alex Ferguson, knocked Liverpool “off their perch”, but a title win would mean they are back on top of United and just one title behind their 20-time achievement.
As the former right-back suggests, there is still a long way to go, and Salah’s knock against Leicester shows Klopp’s side may not have it all their own way.
Having said that, the signs are bright and the fact they have lost just once in the league since the beginning of last season means they will be incredibly difficult to catch.
